Hartung Wins Individual Achtzehn Classic; Spartans Finish Second

Sep 14, 2013

YORK, PA – Senior Tim Hartung (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin) made his final home cross country meet a memorable one as the Spartans' All-American won the Rich Achtzehn Classic on Saturday at John Rudy Park in York. The Spartans finished second as a team, finishing ten points back of team champion Franklin & Marshall.

The Spartans accumulated 48 points to easily outdistance third place St. Mary's while Howard Community College placed fourth followed by Hagerstown in fifth.

The victory at the Classic is Hartung's first win in the event. He finished fifth as a freshman, second as a sophomore, and fifth as a junior. He cruised to the win in a time of 27:02.17, winning the event by over 12 seconds.

Junior Michael Stetson (Old Bridge, N.J./Old Bridge) ran a smart race as he placed 11th with a time of 27:34.91. Freshman Matt Hayes (Drexel Hill, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) also ran well for York as he placed 14th with a time of 27:38.53. The trio of Craig Eppler (Bethlehem, Pa./Northampton), Wil Murray (Cape May Courthouse, N.J./Middle Township), and Aaron Robertson (Mohnton, Pa./Governor Mifflin) finished 16th, 17th, and 18th to give York a great pack effort. Eppler ran the race in a time of 27:41.98 while Murray finished just under two seconds later. Robertson notched a time of 27:53.34.

Junior Connor Simpson (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) placed 21st with a finish of 27:59.11 while freshman James Gonzales (Baltimore, Md./Dundalk) was the eight Spartan finisher as he clocked a 25th place finish for York.

First year head coach Stephen LoBianco was happy with the performance of his guys.

"Overall the guys were able to work as a pack the first part of the race and moved up the last two miles and secure that our top seven were below 28 minutes. Our one through seven gap was 57 seconds which I am very happy with. Our fifth guy this year ran the same time as our 2nd guy last year," said LoBianco.

Six of the Spartans' top runners finished inside the top 20 in the event. There were 114 participants in the classic.

The Spartans will be off next Saturday and will return to action on Saturday, September 28 when they travel to the Salisbury Invitational at Winter Place Park in Salisbury, MD. The event is scheduled for an 11:00 am start.